referee.com quiz

[David Emerling]

I was going through some of the questions on the free quiz that is available on referee.com and the following question came up.

You are supposed to determine which choices apply to NFHS, NCAA, or PRO. I don't do college ball so I was only interested in NFHS and PRO.

4. R2 is on second with no outs when B1 hits a ground ball to F6 in the baseline. R2 hinders F6, but F6 still fields the ball.
a. The ball is immediately dead
b. The ball is delayed dead
c. R2 is out
d. B1 is out
e. B1 is out if retired by ordinary play
f. R2 and B1 are both always automatically out
g. F6 has committed obstruction
h. R2 is awarded third base
i. B1 is awarded first base

Answers below ...
























According to the answer sheet, the answers are the same for all three sets of rules: a, c, and i

I was surprised to see that answer (i) would apply for NFHS. I thought that the umpire could call out B1 if, in the umpire's opinion, the fielder could have thrown him out. Would it make any difference if the ball had hit R2, causing him to be out? Couldn't the umpire also call out B1? What's the difference?

David Emerling
Memphis, TN